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Iakovos Kampanellis
Born	(1921-12-02)2 December 1921 Naxos, Greece
Died	29 March 2011(2011-03-29) (aged 89) Athens, Greece
Occupation	Writer
Known for	"Mauthausen Trilogy"
Website	Official website

Iakovos Kambanellis (Greek: Ιάκωβος Καμπανέλλης; 2 December 1921 – 29 March 2011) was a Greek poet, playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, and novelist.

Biography

Born 2 December 1921 in Hora on the island of Naxos, the sixth of nine children of Stefanos Kampanellis, an experienced pharmacist, and Aikaterini Laskari. His father came from Chios, while his mother came from an old noble family in Istanbul. Iakovos Kambanellis appeared as one of the most prominent Greek playwrights of the 20th century and he is considered to be the father of modern Greek theater. As a survivor of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, he wrote the lyrics of the "Mauthausen Trilogy" with music by Mikis Theodorakis. He has also written a memoir known as Mauthausen describing his experiences from the concentration camp. He wrote the scripts of at least 12 films and he directed three of them. In addition, he is well known as a lyricist, having written the lyrics for more than 100 songs. He was a member of the board of the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (MIET – Morfotiko Idryma Ethnikis Trapezis), along with some of the most prominent Greek artists. From 1981 to 1987, he was Director of the Radio section of the Greek National Broadcasting Company (E.R.T.). In 2000 he was elected member of the Academy of Athens. The same year he was awarded the medal of the Order of Phoenix by the President of the Greek Republic.

Death

Kambanellis was rushed to the hospital on 4 February 2011 due to complications of his long-term kidney failure. At the age of 89, he died on 29 March 2011 from kidney failure, nine days after his wife's death.

Theatre

Cinema

He wrote several scripts for films including:

• Stella directed by Michael Cacoyiannis
• O Drakos (The Ogre of Athens) directed by Nikos Koundouros
• Arpagi tis Persefonis (The Siege of Persephone) directed by Grigoris Grigoriou
• To kanoni kai t'aïdoni (The Cannon and the Nightingale) directed by himself and Giorgos Kampanellis

Many of his plays are translated in several languages and produced in countries all over the world: in Austria, Bulgaria, Iran, England, Germany, Hungary, Romania, U.S.A., Russia, China, Norway and Sweden. His plays translated in Iran by Reza Shirmarz, famous playwright, translator, author and researcher, have been republished several times in a short time. He worked as a journalist in newspapers Eleftheria (1963–65), Anendotos (1965–66) and Nea (1975-1980). He has been a member of the Greek Theatre Writers' Company.

References

1. Work of playwright Iakovos Kambanellis presented at Holocaust Museum in Washington Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2. , Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece website. Accessed 4 May 2022.
3. Στην εντατική ο Ιάκωβος Καμπανέλλης
4. Harris M. Lentz III (2014). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2011. McFarland. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-7864-9134-6.

External links

• World Greek Reporter: Plays of Iakovos Kambanellis Reach Iran
• Official website for the life and work of Iakovos Kambanellis
• Iakovos Kambanellis at IMDb
• Iakovos Kambanellis' play called Ibsenland
• I. Kambanellis biography Frankfurt Book Exposition 2001 – Greece, an honoured country (in Greek)

• 1921 births
• People from Naxos
• 20th-century Greek artists
• Greek screenwriters
• Greek film directors
• Deaths from kidney failure
• Greek lyricists
• Mauthausen concentration camp survivors
• 2011 deaths
• Members of the Academy of Athens (modern)
• Grand Commanders of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
• 20th-century Greek novelists
• 20th-century Greek dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century Greek poets